On The Run Part 7
by Lordhadrian
Summary: The conclusion of the adventure on the Mysterious Planet as Ahsoka, Barriss and Asajj fight to save the Nemon from the Separatists...


On the surface, the pirates had begun their assault, albeit with much difficulty. The Screamers cut down any pirate caught on foot and disabled vehicles. The choppers buzzed around like large pesky insects, but they were matched by the Nemon heavy artillery being launched from several buildings and hidden locations in the ruins.

Hendriksson looked through binoculars to scan the enemy formations. Conradin went up next to him. "How are things looking?" Blaster fire was erupting around them.

"Well, there's a Sarlaac out there that doesn't take too kindly to strangers." Hendriksson shrugged like it was business as usual. Conradin cringed at the thought. "Oh yeah, we ran into him a while back. Hope he is eating well now. He seemed a bit peckish when we crossed paths."

"He won't be hungry after today." Colonel Hendriksson grinned as he watched through the binoculars. The pirate advance was delayed more by the Sarlaac's greeting. Riddick burst in to interrupt the good vibes with concern. "I thought you said these screamers were going to go out to get the pirates. Most of them are just sitting in the danger zone! They only attack when pirates come up to the fence!"

Hendriksson checked the computer for a diagnostic on the Screamers. He frowned. "The signal's not getting through. This damn computer equipment is over three years old and is half fried by radiation! I can't get them to respond!"

An explosion rocked the house next door. Malcolm and Katniss ducked into the command room past dust from the upper floor. "Well, this is a tight spot! Are we winning?"

"Well, I'd say the answer is complicated!" Hendriksson looked at him with some sarcasm "I'm having trouble with the Screamers. They won't leave their kill zone!"

Riddick picked up a communicator in one of the equipment lockers. "Can I get them to follow a frequency outside the zone?"

"Yeah... if you want to get yourself smeared halfway across the desert! You don't have to do this!"

"Trust me. If this little gizmo works, I'll be working my way through them!"

Conradin looked at him, and clutched the blaster carbine he was given by the Nemon. "I'll keep you covered as best I can!"

Hendriksson went to one of his weapons lockers and pulled out an old but stylish sniper rifle. "I'll cover you too. Let's roll!" They ducked out into the cover of rubble and watched as Riddick jumped the barbed wire and ran like hell across the field. Activating the signal, he got the attention of the large army of screamers that just lay in the zone.

The shrieks were deafening as the killing machines started to go after him. Riddick jumped the outer wire fence and ran towards the approaching body of pirates.

Katniss started re-arming herself with explosive tipped arrows given to her by the Nemon. Malcolm stayed by her side and double checked his pistols. "I think we ought to stay near the bunker, and defend the entrance, maybe retreat if need be." He looked at her with a strong hint.

"You don't think I can handle pirates, Dad?" She looked at him with some snark.

"I don't believe you should have to. But, I'll make a deal with you. You fire off all those arrows, and then we will fall back." They moved to a window overlooking the front lines. They could see Riddick running through the pirate advance, followed by Screamer droids that tore through the enemy. Hendrikkson and Conradin were busy shooting any pirates that tried to aim for Riddick.

Riddick used every trick in the book. Ducking under vehicles and climbing over wrecked ones, he only stopped to fight long enough to wound a pirate and leave him for the horrifying droids that followed him. He never looked back, but could hear the screams of man and machine and the sick cutting noises that followed.

But the pirates kept coming. Conradin would fire away at them as they approached the empty zone in front of them, while Hendriksson picked off any officers or authority figures.

"Well, it looks like we'll be overrun shortly. I think we may want to retreat to a secondary point in the city, unless you think we should all go back into the bunker."

"We go into the bunker, we ain't got no other place to go. We could keep them out for maybe an hour or so, but we'll do more damage to them up here at this point." He fired away, nailing another stray figure out in the kill zone. Conradin kept firing away as blaster fire and explosions erupted around the ruins.

Riddick made his way through smoking craters and past bodies. He found his way to another fire fight. A couple dozen pirates were furiously fighting the hungry Sarlaac; shooting at tentacles and aggravating it with grenades and a flamethrower. Riddick took time to run past most of them and let a few remaining Screamers target them and rip them up.

And then, there came a vicious roar. Up from the Sarlaac's mouth raised the mighty Eihort, looking a little worse for wear at being partially digested. It was not happy as it spotted Riddick in the distance. "Furyan!" It bellowed. "I remember you. I will break you and find your friend!" Eihort sent the remaining pirates scattering, panicked and full of terror. The lumbering God of the dead stretched forth and crawled on the hot desert, crushing most pirates unfortunate enough to be in front of it, randomly injecting babies in two or three others, but focused on Riddick.

Riddick turned and looked at the beast with surprise, then looked to see some screamers heading for him. He ran up to the Lord of the Dead, and rolled underneath the creature, avoiding Eihort's huge, bulging stumpy legs. The screamers targeted the huge monster God and started cutting it while Riddick ran behind Eihort and bolted back to the safety of the ruins. Eihort roared again in anger, having missed the wily Furyan. Eihort thrashed at the screamer droids. The cuts were painful, but Eihort was a near immortal being, and was not about to be done in by pirates, a Sarlaac and mere machines. It turned and started a lumbering charge after Riddick. It was slow, but determined. Riddick looked back once. Just once, and just kept running.

Both sides of the battle were momentarily stunned at the sight. Pirates hid from the beast, those who weren't crushed in its wake. The Nemon were almost reverently terrified at seeing the great God out on the planet surface.

Malcolm's jaw dropped. He was firing his pistols at various pirates trying to get into the city, but he was ill prepared for such a beast. "Great googly moogly!" He grabbed Katniss. "Yeah, it's time to get into the FRIKKING BUNKER!" They ran as Riddick got closer and Eihort started picking up speed. Eihort's needle tongue started darting around, waiting to get a shot at the fleeing target, waiting to inject gooey spider babies.

Hendriksson and Conradin looked at each other. "Fuck me," The Colonel almost swallowed his deathstick again, "I think I'm gonna need a bigger gun!"

Conradin looked quickly. "I have a crazy, stupid idea!" He answered quickly and ran off. He ran to the bunker as Malcolm and Katniss were about to enter. "We gotta catch it in a crossfire, or Riddick's a dead man!"

Malcolm looked at him as if he just kicked a puppy. "You can't be serious!"

"Katniss, how many of those explosive arrows you got left?" Conradin talked in haste.

She was more than willing to help; much to her stepdad's fear and disapproval. "I have four left!"

"This is not up for a discussion!" Mal argued, but Katniss was already running for the open field, readying her weapon. Mal pulled out both his pistols and gave Conradin the nastiest look and followed her. Conradin followed behind him. "You just earned yourself a punch in the face, and I'll be paying up that rain check when this is over!" Mal warned as they got closer to where Riddick and the beast were.

"Fair enough." Conradin replied.

Katniss and Mal ran to one side, Conradin on the other. "Vincent!" Conradin called out. "Can you give Riddick a hand?"

Vincent was way ahead of him, as usual. "I'm on it, sir!" Having darted out from the ruins to intercept Riddick, Vincent offered to pull him away. Riddick was exhausted from all the running, and clutched Vincent while the droid floated in the opposite direction away from the ruins. The beast, Eihort, stumbled as they zipped past it going the other way. While Eihort was near immortal, and highly intelligent, it was confused in the bright surface, and was enraged by the mortals enough to not be focused on anything except crushing Riddick and the little robot that interfered.

Katniss launched an explosive arrow at it, nailing its rubbery hide. The explosion sent bits of Eihort splattering about, like yellow goo. It roared in pain, but before it could turn to find her, Conradin opened fire from a wrecked, smoking Pirate vehicle, distracting it from another angle. Mal distracted it further as he fired from yet another direction with both barrels blazing.

Eihort roared again with a new determination to eliminate every last living thing within sight while its yellow gooey body dripped ichoric substances everywhere from its massive wound.

Ventress led the others down a corridor, chased by droid guards. It has been pandemonium throughout the Separatist battle cruiser. It was filled with blaster fire, explosions and a lot of Ventress swearing.

They finally made it to the hanger bay. They ran to the center where Ventress and Obi-wan had parked, or rather, force landed. Obi-wan Kenobi was surrounded by droids, but was holding his own. The shuttle craft, unfortunately, was in bad shape. It had been blasted to pieces by the droid destroyers that were hunting for Obi-wan in the wreckage. Ventress and the others started slicing their way through the droids. The Doctor was deactivating them, one droid at a time while Barriss and Ahsoka jumped and leaped around the droids, cutting them to pieces.

"I think we lost something. Obi!" Ventress yelled as the last of the droids were dispatched. Obi-wan meekly raised a hand from a pile of the shuttles rubble. He gave the ok signal. "You had one job, Kenobi. One job!" Ventress put her hands on her hips and looked at him with a mockingly stern expression.

Obi-wan shrugged. "I thought I'd break the ice with a little joke."

Ventress looked around at the destroyed shuttle. "A very little joke, by the looks of it." She replied sarcastically.

The Doctor looked around. "Oh dear..." He muttered. All the other ships left to attack Lux, and what they thought were dozens of Jedi craft. The hangar bay was empty. "We seem to be out of options." He frowned.

Ahsoka sprung to the center of the group excitedly. "No, there's another way, but it's risky. I found the treasure!"

"Really?" Asajj looked at her in surprise. "The Nemon treasure of their prophecy? Where?"

Ahsoka moved to the edge of the hangar entrance, blocked only by the atmospheric force field. She pointed almost directly below them. "Clone Dooku's patrols couldn't find the treasure because he's looking on the surface of the planet. But the treasure has been hiding here... IN THE CLOUDS!"

Sure enough, they saw it. Not too far below, and rather dangerously close, was a large Nemon ship. It was hovering in the clouds, hidden by the radiation and undetected for three years. Everyone marveled at the sight of it. "It's huge! How did it escape detection so close to the Separatists?" Obi-wan twirled his mustache.

"Ah, the radiation..." The Doctor admired the clever set up. "It looks properly shielded, too. Too bad we can't reach it from here." He had a sort of sad curiosity on his face.

Ventress simply waved her hand and deactivated the Force Field and looked at him. "We CAN reach it from here!" The wind blew about through the hanger bay as they looked at her. The Doctor's two hearts got caught in his throat. There was only one way to get to it. Obi-wan, remembering how much he hated flying, started flexing his arms and legs as Ventress walked between Ahsoka and Barriss. She grabbed their hands. "Do you trust me, Trench Coat?" She looked at the Doctor as Obi-wan grabbed Barriss' other hand.

The Doctor smiled nervously. "I've never sailed without a parachute, Asajj... but I wouldn't miss this for the world." He grabbed Ahsoka's other hand.

She looked at him and smiled, holding his hand tightly. "I won't let go."

He smiled back, remembering her tenacity to hold onto him when the Sarlaac attacked. "You're doing fine." He answered back.

A new wave of droids entered the hangar bay, firing away at them. It was time to go. Ventress got a running start, followed by everyone else. "Let's hope, Doctor, that four Jedi are better than one parachute!" She jumped. They all did. The Doctor yelled in terror and excitement as he plummeted with the group. Obi-wan swung around and linked with the Doctor's free hand.

The wind whipped around them. The Jedi used their powers to steer them towards the massively large ship hidden just below Dooku's fleet. Barriss looked at Asajj and smiled. "Thank you..." They didn't have to say too much more. Ventress knew what she was talking about.

"I made a promise, kid, and I meant it." She squeezed her hand. Asajj looked both ways and smiled at Barriss and Ahsoka. She smiled at Obi-wan, who was still trying to get comfortable in this reckless position. She looked down at the ship. It was time to see what the big deal was.

They approached the surface of the other ship and the Jedi started to slow down their descent. They floated to the top of the ship. "Right." Obi-wan rubbed his hands together. "Time to get this party started." He activated his lightsaber.

Ahsoka halted him. "Wait!" She pointed at a distance. A hatch opened up. Slowly they all walked over and peered in. No one was there.

As they stood there deciding if it was safe, the Doctor walked up to the hatch. "No time like the present. Dooku probably knows the ship is here by now. So... ALLONS-Y!" He took a step and plunged in. Ahsoka followed, and the others went in.

"It looks like a control room!" Barriss marvels. It is a large room with open space. There is a huge computer taking measurements, monitoring life support, temperature, and other systems. In the center of the room were a small command post and a body on the floor. The control panel was simply a chair bolted to the floor and two round computer terminals with a place to put each hand, as if the ship could be controlled mentally through focusing on the hands in the consoles. A ship powered by mental will; and maybe the Force!

The Doctor was on the far end, near a glass partition, reading a plaque on the wall. "Fantastic!" He uttered unconsciously.

"What is it?" Obi-wan walked over to him.

The Doctor looked at all of them. "It's the prophecy of the Morrigu. It seems to have been left here, as if... the Pilot Commander was, ummm, expecting us. Prophecy of the Phantom Queen." He said, looking at Asajj with a wide-eyed enthusiasm. "In the dark days of the Nemon, the Morrigu take flight: One Mother, One Daughter, One sister of the Night. I suppose that's sort of accurate."

Ventress was not completely convinced until she went to the body and rolled it over. She let out a small gasp, one that sent everyone over to her.

"It CAN'T be... It's..." She looked at the Nemon body in shock. It was Varda, and he looked as if he had been dead for a long time. The Doctor and Barriss examined the body. Ventress was starting to shake. She never cared for mysticism of the Force except as a tool to use, but was scared of the possibilities now. She realized that Varda had focused on her, waiting even in death for this moment.

"He... he seemed to have died from the strain of controlling this ship." Obi-wan concluded. "But we saw him!"

"It's all starting to make sense! And it's brilliant!" The Doctor had an epiphany as he started examining the large computer as if looking for something.

"What are you talking about, Trenchcoat?" Ventress looked at him as he started to wildly check several gauges and screens. "What is this, exactly? What is the treasure, and what am I doing here?"

Everyone watched, bewildered and maybe a little startled at the Doctor's agitated behavior. The Doctor, however, was on the verge of revealing the best part of the Prophecy, rattling off verse after verse. "With Badb and Macha and Children of the Light, Phantom Queen Anann will find her state. The Morrigu will open the gate." He looked at the three women, pointing at Barriss, "Badb," then pointing at Ahsoka, "Macha. Or you two could switch if you like." He looked at Ventress with a grin. "Anann, the Phantom Queen! You've opened the gate to get here. The ship must have detected you, and opened the hatch. Very brilliant, I think." He grinned.

They were all spellbound by his explanation and waited for the big punch line to the prophecy. He calmly went over and flipped some switches. Several lights came on behind the glass partition; a partition that was a window to another part of the ship.

The Doctor continued with the prophecy as he flipped each switch on the supercomputer. "She will be mother to new Nemon. Her Phantom Crown, she will forsake." He walked over to the window, took a deep breath and turned to her and held out his arms to present the end of their journey. "Once angel of Death, a new crown, she will take."

They quickly ran to the window, and were all wide-eyed at what they saw. The ship, hidden in radioactive clouds, hidden from the Separatists, piloted by a lone, dead Nemon who guided Ventress along, stored the great Nemon treasure. It was one vast storage machine that held thousands upon thousands... tens of thousands... maybe hundreds of thousands of eggs in incubator units. Ventress' eyes grew fearful when she saw what this ship was. Her jaw hit the floor as she looked at the Doctor, speechless.

"That's right, Asajj Ventress. This ship is a giant incubator. The fate of the entire Nemon race..." He glanced out at the vast nursery of eggs. "It all rests in your hands. Varda wanted you to take those controls and steer the ship to the survivors."

"ME!?" Ventress was terrified again.

Suddenly, an unpleasant booming voice came over the communication speaker. "Yes, Asajj Ventress... You!" It was Clone Dooku, and his voice dripped with sarcasm. "Oh, what a happy man you have made me now, Ventress!" Everyone froze, and listened with chills. Clone Dooku was still above them, and held a final card in his hand to win this struggle.

He strolled across his bridge as the droids aimed their cannons down at the ship. He clutched his stump of an arm. A wound he relished in sharing with his taunts. "Ventress, Tano and Offee, you have defied me for the last time! How ironic that your pathetic prophecy has led you and the Nemon civilization to its last gasp. You have helped me to destroy it again! And I intend to smother it once and for all!"

Ventress sneered "You can't DO this! It's Genocide!" She pleaded.

Clone Dooku laughed at her futile gesture. "It was not the treasure I had expected, but it makes my victory all the more satisfying. I cannot allow these Nemon to live, Ventress. Baby Nemon grow up to be soldiers, and when they learn what the Separatists did to their world, well, we cannot abide this potential new enemy. Goodbye, Phantom Queen! I hope to have made you realize in the last seconds of your pathetic life that there is no victory you can have that I cannot take away!"

Ventress scowled and went to the control panel that killed Varda. "Over MY DEAD BODY!" She slammed her hands into the controls, bringing the ship to life! The engines hummed and they felt the ship move.

"A ship powered by the will of the Force!" The Doctor looked at Ventress and grinned. "Brilliant!"

"Not as brilliant as you would think! Your ship is still within striking range, and will never build enough momentum to escape my wrath!" Clone Dooku gloated. Ventress concentrated, focusing on the controls that kept the ship moving. But she knew he was right. They had no way to escape, and no weapons to defend the ship.

Clone Dooku looked at his bridge crew and smiled despite the pain from his severed hand wound. "Open all missile bays and prepare all cannons. You may fire when ready!" He called out to them one last time. Ventress closed her eyes and waited for him to end his taunts. "Oh, Ventress! You can't get away... No... You can't get away! I would spit my last breath at thee! Farewell!"

And then, static crackled over the airwaves. Another voice intruded on them. It was Lux Bonteri. "HEY, ASSHOLE!" He called out on the radio. "You got me good when I had the chopper, but I'm game for a rematch!"

Clone Dooku rolled his eyes in boredom and looked at his radar crew. They spotted a vague signal within the clouds above the fleet. The droids snickered. "He's one lone fighter, My Lord." They reported. "He'll try to trick us into thinking he has many ships, but he's bluffing!"

"Hmph, Well, if it isn't Loser Bonteri, the littlest Separatist that could!" Clone Dooku dripped with sarcasm. He looked up through the windows of the bridge at the clouds, waiting for Lux to appear.

"LUX, NO!" Ahsoka called out. She looked up at the ceiling, instinctively and suddenly worried he would try to take on a whole fleet.

Lux flew straight down and stared ahead, terrified in the clouds. "I'm gonna kill you, Dooku. Just thought I'd give you a heads up!"

Clone Dooku laughed. The droid bridge crew laughed. "I'm aiming my littlest gun at you, Bonteri! Prepare to d-" Clone Dooku froze and went pale as Lux dive-bombed towards them out of the clouds.

It would be the last thing Clone Dooku would see; the last sight of Lux zeroing in on the bridge... and the sight of every vulture fighter that had been dispatched to destroy the Nemon pursuing him. The vultures were all focused on Lux, waiting for him to drop out of the clouds so they could get a clear shot. They all targeted missiles at him as they dropped out of the clouds and fired.

"Who's laughing now, Bitch!?"

Lux punched the thrusters and steered wildly past the bridge, and disappeared off to the side. Clone Dooku raged but didn't even have time to scream a curse as the missiles pelted his ship in a deadly rain. The rain was quickly followed by the squadrons of vultures who were so focused they didn't have time to pull away. There were followed by the dozens of Republic fighters led by Anakin who targeted the entire Separatist fleet.

"Open fire, boys!" Anakin grinned.

Lux struggled with the controls as all hell broke loose up above him. The entire Separatist fleet had been obliterated, exploding above him like a grand fireworks display. "Yeeehaw!" He shouted. The adrenalin-filled moment had to be released when he realized he just dodged the biggest assault he had ever experienced. He spotted the Nemon ship below, and tried to steer towards it.

Ventress realized the debris of several destroyed ships were about to engulf them, but she still could not move the ship any faster. She almost collapsed from the exhaustion of trying to control the ship.

"I can't get enough power! I can't do it!" She almost wanted to cry. Ahsoka and Barriss looked at each other, and smiled. She had already done so much. The two of them walked up in front of Ventress, each placing a hand into the control panel with hers.

Ahsoka and Barriss held hands and concentrated. "We gotcha covered!" Ahsoka smiled. Their extra power increased the power of the ship as they headed towards the ruins. They steered clear of the area that was about to be flooded by fireballs of wreckage from above.

"I'm coming in hot!" Lux called out on the radio. I'll try to land on the ship!" Lux was struggling with the controls.

Ahsoka looked up desperately, unsure of what to do. Obi-wan stepped in and took her place next to Ventress. "Go get him, Ahsoka. I'll watch over Asajj here." He smiled.

"Thank you!" Ahsoka whispered. She ran to the open hatch and leapt up to the outside of the ship. She looked across the sky, trying to spot him. A lone Vulture droid spotted her and began a strafing run. Ahsoka frowned and tried to run for the hatch, but a trail of blaster fire rained down around her. Ahsoka looked up, watching it come for her.

Then, Lux's Jedi fighter swiped into it, blowing up both fighters. At first, Ahsoka was stunned with terror at the thought of what just happened. Her jaw dropped for a split second. Lux spotted the lone droid and smashed into it with full force, but he and the R4 unit ejected from the fighter at just the right moment in a ridiculously spectacular move. The astromech hovered with its powered jets and landed safely. Lux activated his parachute, and glided down onto the Nemon ship with a graceful landing in front of her. The two fighters disappeared below, plummeting from view with one more victory against the droids.

Ahsoka and Lux looked at each other for a long two seconds. He took a deep breath and smiled at her. Ahsoka shook her head at his recklessness and smiled. She ran up to him. "Hey, stranger." He grinned.

Ahsoka grabbed him and just wrapped them together as she gave him a very grateful kiss of appreciation. The sky roared and thundered around past them. He embraced her and held the kiss as the clouds in the distance glowed bright shades of red and orange. In their moment of relief, the sky rained fire and debris from far off as Clone Dooku's destroyed fleet sank past them, showering the area with twisted smoking metal and chunks.

Tears of fire from the skies above.

Down below, the Nemon saw the fleet come down in flames. Giant fire balls roared through the air and crashed in the distance. The pirates had had enough of the fight. The carnage from above plus the rampaging Eihort broke their resolve.

Elder Pardek watched with other Nemon that gathered around and observed the skies above. They marveled at the sight of the fleet raining down in fiery pieces. "The Gods weep up above." He whispered around his fellows. "Again, it is the legend!"

Ahsoka breaks from the kiss and grabs his hand. "Come on! Let's go back to the others." They run to the hatch and slip inside. Lux greets the others, grateful to see them alive, while Ahsoka rejoined Ventress at the controls.

"I think we can land outside the ruins!" Ventress smiled, finally getting the hang of steering the ship and using her senses to guide her while using the Force to give power to the ship.

"You're doing a great job, Ventress." Obi-wan mused. "I have to congratulate you. You've become the proud parent to about 500,000 baby lizards! I can't wait to see you change so many diapers!" Obi-wan stood by and had the biggest grin.

Ventress blushed, but was still in awe. She didn't know what to think, except that the old Ventress was gone. She just looked out upon the huge incubation machine that cared for so many un-hatched children. She was to be a mother to the new Nemon, and suddenly the statue in the courtyard with two small children seemed to make a whole lot of sense. She never would see Varda again, but understood what his appearance had meant. It was not just for the future of the Nemon people, but hers as well.

Eihort was battered and bruised, but still in control as Conradin got next to Riddick and Vincent. They were away from the ruins, but out of options with trying to contain the God-beast. Malcolm and Katniss also joined up with them, realizing that they had pulled every trick in the book to keep the monster occupied. "I will give you the honor of dying a most horrible death at my leisure." Eihort slowly lumbered forth.

Everyone noticed behind the beast that Hendriksson, Pardek and the gathering of armed Nemon were making their way to them, but were not close enough to stop the beast. Maybe it was not their intention. They were drawn out to the field by something else.

Ventress was landing the ship, and Eihort had enough time to look up with its three remaining, undamaged eyes to see the huge Nemon incubation ship prepare to land on top of it. Eihort, Lord of the Dead, let out an indignant scream as it tried to move away. The ship squashed the great beast like slime, making Eihort's form simply splatter like a gummy yellow pile. Ventress had defeated the beast yet again, much to everyone's relief.

A hatch opened after the ship safely stopped in its landing. Everyone exited, greeting each other and shaking hands at a hard fought victory.

The celebration was cut short by a fleet of Republic gunships that landed nearby. Anakin Skywalker also landed his ship and walked over to the group. Clone troopers had surrounded them, and trained their guns on everyone.

"Well, I can't seem to catch a break, can I?" Ventress sighed as she and her friends put their hands up.

"We can talk to Anakin." Ahsoka looked at Obi-wan. "He will listen, won't he? We just had a major Republic victory here, and saved an entire race of people! Right, Pardek?"

Ahsoka looked at Pardek and Hendriksson, trying to find approval. Pardek nodded. "We are immensely grateful to your efforts and to the Phantom Queen. You have saved our way of life. You have given the last of us new hope to start over. You will become our greatest legend of all!"

Ventress was about to respond, when Anakin interjected. "She will be a legend to your people, perhaps, but she is a criminal to ours!" Anakin looked at the group with suspicion and accusatory expressions, especially at Barriss, Asajj and a disappointed look to Ahsoka.

Riddick stepped between Anakin and Asajj.

"Anakin, there are circumstances here that should be taken into account." Obi-wan tried to create a defense.

Anakin stopped him with a hand on the shoulder. He was grateful to see his friend alive and well, but now was not the time. "Please, Obi-wan," he whispered in a serious tone, "don't get in my way. I have a mission to finish here. I intend to carry it out." Obi-wan bowed his head and backed away.

Anakin marched past Obi-wan and Riddick towards Asajj, Ahsoka and Barriss with a stern look. "You don't have to do this." Ahsoka pleaded with him. Anakin was unconvinced, and she knew he was determined to finish the justice he felt was needed.

"It's ok, guys." Barriss sighed. "It's time to let this be finished." Barriss moved to face Anakin. "It's me you want. Nobody else needs to be involved."

"Everybody is already involved." Anakin says grimly. He looked to Commander Rex and the troops. "Round them all up. We'll sort out each person at the Temple with Tarkin and the Chancellor."

Conradin and Lux tried to step in. "This is really all my doing, sir." Lux tried to reason. "I was responsible-"

Anakin pushed him back. "I'm not interested in your bravado. I'm interested in justice! There's a terrorist here that will be punished along with the accomplices! Rex, process them." He pulls Ahsoka off to the side, trying to give her a sympathetic look. "Ahsoka, I have a job to do now. I need you to cooperate. I can put in a good word for you."

Ahsoka smiled for a second at him, remembering that he always tried for her, but she walked away again. "They didn't listen to me when I was innocent. I can't expect any better now that I'm guilty."

"Commander Skywalker! Message coming in from Coruscant!" Cody ran up to Anakin and Obi-wan. "There are multiple distress signals. Coruscant has been attacked! The Chancellor is placing an emergency call out to all Republic Forces!"

"That's all we need!" Anakin spit out with contempt. He looked at Conradin and Lux. "Looks like your old master Dooku and his slimy pals have done the unthinkable!"

Conradin frowned "I'm not one of them anymore!"

Anakin and Conradin went nose to nose. "I really, really hope you try to pull a fast one. I am looking forward to the cause of your death being 'resisting arrest!" Anakin whispered threateningly.

Conradin didn't back down. "Oh, you still want that rematch from Drongar, don't you? Well, you name the time and the place, Chosen One."

Barriss gently grabbed Conradin, pulling him away. He looked at her, and knew he needed to just calm down.

Things start getting out of control as Conradin's friends protest. Rex and the troopers bark orders to stand down. Katniss tried to go up to Anakin. "We don't want to use violence!"

Anakin waved his hand at her, knocking Katniss to the ground with a powerful push, perhaps with a little too much power. Malcolm, incensed, gets his pistol out and gets into Anakin's face with it. Every gun in the area goes up and everyone starts shouting. Obi-wan and Ventress try to calm everyone down as trigger fingers get itchy. Anakin and Malcolm stare each other down as Rex pulls everyone away. The clone troopers aim at Malcolm, ready to blow him to kingdom come.

Anakin calmly looks at him. "Relax, old man. I didn't touch her. She's fine!"

Malcolm stared him down with a wild look, his pistol steady between Anakin's eyes. "Yeah, that's a fancy trick you got there. You Jedi are full of fancy tricks and I have no doubt you can beat me in a fair fight, but if you EVER 'not touch her' again, you better make peace with your dear and fluffy Force."

Malcolm put down his gun. Rex hauled them away before things could get out of control. Obi-wan held onto Asajj, Barriss and Ahsoka. They were the original escapees and Kenobi assured the guards he would look after the three. He would watch over them after their harrowing experience on Beaudicca-3.

"Cody, how bad is the emergency? Are the Separatists attacking?" Anakin inquired.

Cody hesitated. Anakin, Obi-wan and Asajj looked at him, waiting. "There's a bit of a complication, sir. It seems we have emergency requests from the Chancellor... We know there has been another bombing, but we aren't sure of how big it was or casualties yet."

Anakin and Obi-wan felt the pain of thousands of people cry out and suddenly be silenced. Anakin in particular whispered Padme's name with horror. They started running.

Asajj looked at Ahsoka and Barriss. She felt a horror building up. She grabbed their hands, ready to follow Obi-wan on board the gunship to go back to Coruscant. They ran as fast as they could. 


End file.
